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Detection rules › Sigma

Winnti Malware HK University Campaign

Status
test
Severity
critical
Log source
product windows, category process_creation
Author
Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Markus Neis
Source
github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects specific process characteristics of Winnti malware noticed in Dec/Jan 2020 in a campaign against Honk Kong universities

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
ExecutionT1574.001 Hijack Execution Flow: DLL
StealthT1574.001 Hijack Execution Flow: DLL

Event coverage

ProviderEventTitle
SysmonEvent ID 1Process creation
Security-AuditingEvent ID 4688A new process has been created.

Rule body yaml

title: Winnti Malware HK University Campaign
id: 3121461b-5aa0-4a41-b910-66d25524edbb
status: test
description: Detects specific process characteristics of Winnti malware noticed in Dec/Jan 2020 in a campaign against Honk Kong universities
references:
    - https://www.welivesecurity.com/2020/01/31/winnti-group-targeting-universities-hong-kong/
author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Markus Neis
date: 2020-02-01
modified: 2021-11-27
tags:
    - attack.privilege-escalation
    - attack.persistence
    - attack.execution
    - attack.stealth
    - attack.t1574.001
    - attack.g0044
    - detection.emerging-threats
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection1:
        ParentImage|contains:
            - 'C:\Windows\Temp'
            - '\hpqhvind.exe'
        Image|startswith: 'C:\ProgramData\DRM'
    selection2:
        ParentImage|startswith: 'C:\ProgramData\DRM'
        Image|endswith: '\wmplayer.exe'
    selection3:
        ParentImage|endswith: '\Test.exe'
        Image|endswith: '\wmplayer.exe'
    selection4:
        Image: 'C:\ProgramData\DRM\CLR\CLR.exe'
    selection5:
        ParentImage|startswith: 'C:\ProgramData\DRM\Windows'
        Image|endswith: '\SearchFilterHost.exe'
    condition: 1 of selection*
falsepositives:
    - Unlikely
level: critical

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

1 of selection*

Stage 1: selection1

selection1:
    ParentImage|contains:
        - 'C:\Windows\Temp'
        - '\hpqhvind.exe'
    Image|startswith: 'C:\ProgramData\DRM'

Stage 2: selection2

selection2:
    ParentImage|startswith: 'C:\ProgramData\DRM'
    Image|endswith: '\wmplayer.exe'

Stage 3: selection3

selection3:
    ParentImage|endswith: '\Test.exe'
    Image|endswith: '\wmplayer.exe'

Stage 4: selection4

selection4:
    Image: 'C:\ProgramData\DRM\CLR\CLR.exe'

Stage 5: selection5

selection5:
    ParentImage|startswith: 'C:\ProgramData\DRM\Windows'
    Image|endswith: '\SearchFilterHost.exe'

Indicators

Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.

FieldKindValues
Imageends_with
  • \SearchFilterHost.exe corpus 3 (sigma 3)
  • \wmplayer.exe
Imageeq
  • C:\ProgramData\DRM\CLR\CLR.exe
Imagestarts_with
  • C:\ProgramData\DRM
ParentImageends_with
  • \Test.exe
ParentImagematch
  • C:\Windows\Temp
  • \hpqhvind.exe
ParentImagestarts_with
  • C:\ProgramData\DRM
  • C:\ProgramData\DRM\Windows